Powdered body deodorant composition

ABSTRACT

A powdered body deodorant composition containing officinal alum, acacia gum, an inert powder and zinc oxide, and intended to be applied twice daily for four days. Said composition reduces excess sweating and prevents foot odour for several years or even permanently.

This application is a 371 of PCT/FR 92/00640, filed Jul. 6, 1992.

The present invention relates to a powdered body deodorant composition,designed more especially on the basis of pharmaceutical grade alum andgum arabic, for suppressing the growth of bacteria that give rise todisagreeable odors due to excess sweating. This deodorant composition,in the form of a powdered cosmetic, is devised, in particular, so that,following applications to the epidermis, in particular of the feet,repeated twice daily and for approximately four days, the excesssweating is greatly reduced and the disagreeable odors are abolished asa result of the suppression of the formation of bacteria, the effectlasting several years or permanently.

In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 2,145,583 is known, which patentdescribes an anti-odorizing deodorant cream containing aluminum sulfate,water-soluble gum, a zinc salt which is also water-soluble and inertpowder, this cream being well tolerated by the skin.

An abstract published in CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS--vol. 115, no. 21 of Nov. 251991--is also known, which abstract discloses a deodorant powdercontaining aluminumpotassium sulfate, this powder being designed to beapplied inside shoes.

Although these known products contain alum as an active component, thatis to say used for its astringent properties, they do not appear to beapplicable for an effective antibacterial treatment but appear, moresimply, to be used as a maintenance product for deodorizing sweat.

Consequently, the aim of the present invention is to propose a powderedmixture which complies with the treatment stated in the preamble, andwhich contains, in equal Amounts in order to supply approximately 65 to75% of its total amount, pharmaceutical grade alum in the form ofaluminum potassium sulfate and gum arabic extracted from acacia, as wellas an amount of zinc oxide of approximately 5 to 10%, and the remainingamount of inert powder consisting of talc and forming approximately 20to 25% of this mixture.

It should be noted that these components, apart from pharmaceuticalgrade alum which has long been known for its astringent properties, werechosen to enhance the effects of the latter product, that is to say, gumarabic has the effect of maintaining the closing of the pores caused byalum and, at the same time, of constituting a demulcent for theepidermis, zinc oxide speeds up desiccation and talc, as a result ofbeing insoluble in water, yields an inert powder which isnon-fermentable.

After different mixtures of powders were made, but in proportions lyingwithin the percentage ranges stated previously, and after they were usedon a trial basis on patients suffering from excess sweating and whodeveloped disagreeable odors even though they regularly complied withattention to body hygiene, mycobacteriological examinations were carriedout on sweat samples and, following the results, the inventor noted thatthe most satisfactory powdered mixture was that specifically containingthe following amounts: 35% of pharmaceutical grade alum, 35% of gumarabic, 5% of zinc oxide and 25% of talc.

Following this, the inventor has discontinued his trials, and believesthat his new deodorant composition is appropriately suited to thetreatment he envisages for abolishing excess body sweating, and of thefeet in particular, for several years.

I claim:
 1. A body deodorant composition in powder form, which can beapplied to the epidermis, in particular to the epidermis of the feet andcontains a large quantity of alum as astringent, relative to a smallquantity of zinc oxide as desiccation accelerator, which compositionincorporates, in a quantity equal to that of the alum, gum arabicextracted from acacia, as a product for maintaining the effect ofclosing of the pores brought about by the alum, which is in the form ofa double sulfate of aluminum and potassium, which constitutes with thegum arabic a quantity of from approximately 65% to 75% of the totalquantity of the composition, and which incorporates a quantity of fromapproximately 5% to 10% of zinc oxide, the remaining quantity up to 100%consisting of inert, nonfermentable powder.
 2. A body deodorantcomposition in powder form as claimed in claim 1, which incorporates aquantity of 35% of double sulfate of aluminum and potassium and an equalquantity of gum arabic a quantity of 5% of zinc oxide, the remainingquantity of 25% consisting of talc.